Lafayette Avenue Bike Lane Plan Shelved Till 2012 or Later

Last month it looked as though Lafayette Avenue in Fort Greene and Clinton Hill could be the next hotly contested Brooklyn bike lane, but it sounds as though the Department of Transportation has been made a little paint-shy by the whole Prospect Park West ridiculousness. The Post reports that the DoT has canceled plans to install the lane on Lafayette between Flatbush and Broadway.

Community Board 2 District Manager Robert Perris offers no explanation for the cancellation, simply telling the Post that “It’s off the table for at least the rest of the year.”

Presumably, though, it had something to do with community reactions to a CB2 presentation last month in which the lane was framed as a traffic-slowing measure. While cyclists approved, most people felt that other measures would be more effective for slowing the many motorists who speed along Lafayette. A parallel lane on Willoughby was cited as another reason not to install the lane. In any case, if that is still going to happen, paint won’t hit pavement until next year at the earliest. Until then we’ll just have to keep dodging doors. (Streetsblog)